1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data communications and, more particularly, to data communications using Short Message Service (SMS) transport.
2. Description of the Background Art
Short Message Service (SMS) transport is a service commonly available on mobile devices for the purpose of sending short messages between such mobile devices. This service is commonly called “text messaging.” Typically, the messages comprise a few characters of text, the precise number depending on a particular encoding scheme used by the SMS implementation.
Message delivery in the SMS standard is characterized as a “best effort” scheme. As a recipient of an SMS message will not necessarily have the receiving mobile device turned on or connected to a service network, it is not possible to guarantee delivery of the SMS message to the recipient. An SMS implementation will typically retry delivery to a receiving device in accordance with “best effort” practices, and may optionally provide a message sender with a receipt when the SMS message is successfully delivered to the recipient. However, SMS should be considered unreliable in any critical application, as there is never any guarantee of delivery of any particular SMS message.
Accordingly, what is desired is a method for ensuring reliable delivery of data using ubiquitous SMS transport services.